Podcasting from the CIPR

Jonathan Bowers, June 29th 2006, 5:51PM

I'm starting to look forward to the UKFast podcast from the Northern conference of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations on July 6th.

When you think about it - podcasting is a perfect form for this kind of information exchange. The organisers will not want to reveal everything from the event - as it devalues the experience for the delegates. At the same time they want to create a flavour of the day to raise the profile of the event, entice professionals in the sphere along to future conferences and promote their remit as a resource for the latest information on PR.

I'll be plugging in to the mixing desk as well as catching up with the keynote speakers for more relaxed chats in order to put together an overview of one of the most important events in the PR calendar.

If you'd like to get hold of a ticket then try Don't Panic, the event organisers and I'm sure they'll be able to help you out.

Perhaps I'll see you there and get a short interview out of you for the podcast?

Tags: podcasting, pr
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Television on the Internet

Jonathan Bowers, June 28th 2006, 5:43PM

I read an interesting research paper on The Register entitled IPTV/VoD: The fall of content's kingdom this week and have been thinking about it a fair bit.

IPTV will almost certainly be the way to watch TV programmes on your computer - or TV through a hard drive box before too long. But there's a conflict thus far between the programme makers and the ISPs/telcos because one can't do it well without the other and this kind of bandwidth doesn't come cheap.

The paper talks about the need to offer better alternatives to piracy and the difficulties facing the big companies in trying to achieve this. One possible solution put by the writer Alexander Cameron is Google Ad Words and the personalisation of advertising.

However, it takes for granted that we do not mind Google discovering all about us in order to present us with the most relevant adverts. What with Google talking about listening to our TVs through our computers, how many consumers actually want this kind of intrusion?

One company that looks to be finding alternatives is Murdoch's News Corporation the parent company of the UK's BSkyB. In the last year he has made a series of interesting moves. As a content provider he needs to have a foothold in the Internet infrastructure, which explains the purchase of EasyNet an ISP. The other interesting purchase is MySpace which gives him influence over one of the largest online communities on the planet. So he is reaching the audience and finding ways to provide the content.

But is this a direction that other content providers can afford?

Tags: iptv, news_corporation
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Unsure about Squidoo

Jonathan Bowers, June 27th 2006, 2:04PM

I've taken an interest in the concept of Squidoo. It's an amalgamation of many of the Net's newest ideas. Something of a social networking site, a wiki, a blog community...

Users can create a lens, which is a simple web page that discusses one particular topic. And we all know that there are potentially millions of topics. It is being advertised as a marketing opportunity for individuals and businesses to promote information about a topic and then drive traffic to their own site. And there are signs that it is working

Behind the site is Seth Godin American marketer and writer of All Marketers are Liars. Seth promotes the feel good factor of marketing as well as an authentic approach to communication and he combines both in Squidoo.

The site allows you to post links to appropriate products on etail sites such as Amazon, eBay and Cafe Press and you can raise revenue from this either for yourself or charity. Each page is also sandwiched by Google Ads top and bottom. So the money raising potential is there and as each page concentrates on a particular topic, Google has an easy job to make the ads relevant to the audience.

On the downside, this kind of set-up seems open to abuse from people whose sole aim is to increase their links on the web. I believe it will have to be carefully administrated to make sure that the potency of the information is not diluted, because if that happens the community’s appeal may wane.

I am thinking of my own lens though...

Tags: socialnetworking, squidoo
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The shape of computers to come

Chris Norton, June 22nd 2006, 2:18PM

An article on Slashdot about some graphics-pen based desktop software called 'BumpTop' started me thinking again about interface design (see 'Welcome to Userville'). But then my thinking started to run 'well I wrote that post about software design, better think of something else'. I had to think outside the box - literally.

Because outside the software-displaying boundaries of the computer screen is the computer itself. What does it consist of? Typically a screen, a keyboard, a mouse and a box of tricks with a medusa-head of wires popping out the back. Tech types will tend to view the box of tricks under the desk as the computer itself, and its attendant attachments merely tools plugged into the computer. Non-technical types will often refer to the screen as being the computer - after all, that's where everything happens.

Well I think the whole caboodle needs to be present before you call it a personal computer, and it strikes me that this bitty existence is a bit strange, a bit... underdeveloped. OK, so you have immense power through the ability to get a fancy mouse or a massive screen, but as personal computers continue to move into being consumer items, for heaven's sake the last thing consumers need is complexity. A bit of choice is good, yeah, but if people are going to buy a PC and not change anything, why have a separate monitor and keyboard and mouse and all that?

I think we'll be seeing a lot more of those Apple style combo-computers, where the monitor and main box become as one - and not just because Apple set fashion and are thus copied left right and center. Once those linking wires are got rid of, perhaps we could have some kind of holographic keyboards, and control the pointer by just wiggling our fingers on the desk? Look, we're already partway there.

Tags: control, design, desktop, interface, pcs
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Opera's new browser worth a look

Jonathan Bowers, June 21st 2006, 10:46AM

Many Internet users and even some web developers are still choosing to ignore the fact that there are more browsers available than just Internet Explorer.

The Opera team has quietly built a name for itself and the new browser Opera 9 is now available to download. Savvy Internet users have given Firefox a go and the majority of those that start using it tend to carry on. Very few of us in contrast are downloading Opera.

Ross Shannon offers a review of the big browsers on HTMLSource. It is heavily weighted against IE, but gives some insight into the strengths of Firefox and Opera.

What’s interesting about Opera is its focus on a niche market that has the potential to grow into the mainstream. I refer to its collaboration with BitTorrent. And as we all know, the future of the web is content and many of the web's pioneers are discussing the best ways to share that content, whether it be text, audio, image or video. So Opera looks set to grow in line with some of the web's most exciting trends.

Tags: browsing, opera
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